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Zhengde was created crown prince at a very early age and because his father did not take up any other concubines, Zhengde did not have to contend with other princes for the throne. (His younger brother died in infancy.) Zhengde was thoroughly educated in Confucian literature and he excelled in his studies. Many of Emperor Hongzhi's ministers expected that Zhengde would become a benevolent and brilliant emperor like his father, but this was not to be.

Zhengde ascended the throne and was married to the Empress at the age of 14.[1] Unlike his father, Zhengde was not interested in ruling or his Empress and disregarded all state affairs. His actions have been considered reckless, foolish or pointless.[2] There are many instances where he showed a lack of responsibility.

He took up a luxurious and prodigal lifestyle and indulged himself in women. It was said that he liked to frequent brothels and even created palaces called "Bao Fang" (豹房; literally "The Leopards' Chamber") outside the Forbidden City in Beijing initially to house exotic animals such as tigers and leopards for his amusement and then later used to house beautiful women for his personal enjoyment.[3] On one occasion he was badly mauled while hunting tigers, and could not appear in court audiences for a month.[2] On another occasion he burned down his palace by storing gunpowder in the courtyards during the lantern festival.[2] His harem was so overfilled that many of its women starved to death due to lack of supplies.[4]

Stele in memory of the renovation of the Temple of Yan in Qufu, 1509 (Year 4 of Zhengde era)

For months at a time he would live outside the Forbidden City or travel around the country with heavy expenditures being paid from the empire's coffer. While being urged to return to the palace and attend to governmental matters, Zhengde would refuse to receive all his ministers and ignored all their petitions. Zhengde also sanctioned the rise of eunuchs around him. One particular Liu Jin, leader of the Eight Tigers, was notorious for taking advantage of the young emperor and squandered immense amount of silver and valuables. The diverted funds were about 36 million pounds of gold and silver.[5] There was even rumor of a plot that Liu Jin had intended to murder the emperor and place his own grandnephew on the throne. Liu Jin's plot was ultimately discovered, and he was executed in 1510 however the rise of corrupt enunchs continued throughout Zhengde's reign. There was also an uprising led by Prince of Anhua and another uprising led by Prince of Ning. Prince of Anhua was Zhengde's great-granduncle, while Prince of Ning was his granduncle.[6]

In time Zhengde became notorious for his childish behaviour as well as abusing his power as emperor. For instance, he set up a staged commercial district inside his palace and ordered all his ministers, eunuchs, soldiers and servants of the palace to dress up and act as merchants or street vendors while he walked through the scene pretending to be a commoner. Any unwilling participants, especially the ministers (who viewed it as degrading and an insult), would be punished or removed from their post.

Then in 1518 Zhengde declared himself General Zhu (鎮國公朱壽) and personally led an expedition to the north to repel raiding expeditions several tens of thousands strong led by the Mongol General nicknamed "The Little Prince".[7] He met the enemy outside the city of Yingzhou and defeated them in a major battle by surrounding them. For a long period of time after this battle, the Mongols did not launch a raiding expedition into Ming territory. Then again in 1519, Zhengde led another expedition to Jiangxi province to the south to quell the Prince of Ning rebellion by a powerful baron known as Zhu Chenhao who had bribed many people in Zhengde's cabinet. He arrived only to discover that the revolt had already been put down by Wang Shouren, a local administrative officer. Frustrated at not being able to lead his troops to victory, Zhengde's advisor suggested the release the baron in order to capture him again. In January 1521, Zhengde had the rebel Prince of Ning executed in Tongzhou,[8] an event that was recorded even by the Portuguese embassy to China.

The Zhengde Emperor was fascinated by foreigners and invited many Muslims to serve as advisors, eunuchs, and envoys at his court.[9] Works of art such as porcelain from his court contained Islamic inscriptions in Arabic or Persian.[10][11][12][13]

According to Bret Hinsch in the book Passions of the cut sleeve: the male homosexual tradition in China, Zhengde Emperor had an alleged homosexual relationship with a Muslim leader from Hami, named Sayyid Husain, who served as the overseer in Hami during the Ming-Turpan border wars, although no evidence supporting this claim exists in Chinese sources.[14][15]

The Zhengde Emperor also had many relationships with foreign Muslim women. He sought the daughters of many of his officials. The other Muslim in his court, a Central Asian called Yu Yung, sent Central Asian Uighur female dancers to Zhengde's quarters for sexual purposes.[16][17] The emperor liked foreign women such as Mongols and Uighur.[18]

Zhengde was noted for having a Uighur woman as one of his favorite concubines.[19] Her last name was Ma, and she was reportedly trained in military and musical arts, in archery, horse riding, and singing music from Turkestan, as well as being able to speak in several languages.[20]

Prior to the death of the emperor in early 1521, rumours about a mysterious group of creatures collectively called Dark Afflictions (Chinese: 黑眚; pinyin: Hēi Shěng) circulated the capital. Their attacks caused much unrest, because they randomly attacked people at night, causing wounds with their claws. The Minister for War asked the emperor to write an imperial edict proclaiming local security troops would arrest all those who frightened other people. The threat brought a sudden end to the spread of the stories.[21]

Emperor Zhengde died in 1521 at the age of 30. It was said that Zhengde was drunk while boating on a lake one day in the fall of 1520. He fell off his boat and almost drowned.[22] He died after contracting illnesses from the Grand Canal waters.[5] Since none of his several children had survived childhood, he was succeeded by his cousin Zhu Houcong. His tomb is located at Kangling of the Ming Dynasty Tombs.

During the reign of Chingtih (Zhengde) (1506), foreigners from the west called Fah-lan-ki (or Franks), who said they had tribute, abruptly entered the Bogue, and by their tremendously loud guns shook the place far and near. This was reported at court, and an order returned to drive them away immediately, and stop the trade.

The first direct European contacts with China occurred during the reign of Zhengde. In several initial missions commissioned by Afonso de Albuquerque of Portuguese Malacca, the Portuguese explorers Jorge Álvares and Rafael Perestrello landed in southern China and traded with the Chinese merchants of Tuen Mun and Guangzhou. In 1513 their king, Manuel I of Portugal sent Fernão Pires de Andrade and Tomé Pires to formally open relations between the main court at Beijing and Lisbon, capital of Portugal. Although Zhengde gave the Portuguese embassy his blessing while touring Nanjing in May 1520, he died soon after and the Portuguese (who were rumored to be troublemakers in Canton and even cannibals of kidnapped Chinese children), were ejected by Chinese authorities under the new Grand Secretary Yang Tinghe. Although illegal trade continued thereafter, official relations between the Portuguese and the Ming court would not improve until the 1540s, culminating in the Ming court's consent in 1557 which allowed Portugal to establish Macau as their trading base in China.

The Malay Malacca Sultanate was a tributary state and ally to Ming Dynasty China. When Portugal conquered Malacca in 1511 and committed atrocities against the Malay Sultanate, the Chinese responded with violent force against Portugal.

The Chinese Imperial Government imprisoned and executed multiple Portuguese envoys after torturing them in Guangzhou. The Malaccans had informed the Chinese of the Portuguese seizure of Malacca, to which the Chinese responded with hostility toward the Portuguese. The Malaccans told the Chinese of the deception the Portuguese used, disguising plans for conquering territory as mere trading activities, and told of all the atrocities committed by the Portuguese.[23]

Due to the Malaccan Sultan lodging a complaint against the Portuguese invasion to the Chinese Emperor, the Portuguese were greeted with hostility from the Chinese when they arrived in China.[24][25][26][27][28] The Malaccan Sultan, based in Bintan after fleeing Malacca, sent a message to the Chinese, which combined with Portuguese banditry and violent activity in China, led the Chinese authorities to execute 23 Portuguese and torture the rest of them in jails. After the Portuguese set up posts for trading in China and committed piratical activities and raids in China, the Chinese responded with the complete extermination of the Portuguese in Ningbo and Quanzhou[29] Pires, a Portuguese trade envoy, was among those who died in the Chinese dungeons.[30][31][32]

The Chinese defeated a Portuguese fleet in 1521 at the First Battle of Tamao (1521), killing and capturing so many Portuguese that the Portuguese had to abandon their junks and retreat with only three ships, only escaping back to Malacca because a wind scattered the Chinese ships as the Chinese launched a final attack.[33]

The Chinese effectively held the Portuguese embassy hostage, using them as a bargaining chip in demanding that the Portuguese restore the deposed Malaccan Sultan (King) to his throne.[34]

The Chinese proceeded to executed several Portuguese by beating and strangling them, and torturing the rest. The other Portuguese prisoners were put into iron chains and kept in prison.[35] The Chinese confisticated all of the Portuguese property and goods in the Pires embassy's possession.[36]

In 1522 Martim Afonso de Merlo Coutinho was appointed commander of another Portuguese fleet sent to establish diplomatic relations.[37] The Chinese defeated the Portuguese ships lead by Coutinho at the Second Battle of Tamao (1522). A large amount of Portuguese were captured and ships destroyed during the battle. The Portuguese were forced to retreat to Malacca.[38][39]

The Chinese forced Pires to write letters for them, demanding that the Portuguese restore the deposed Malaccan Sultahn (King) back onto his throne. The Malay ambassador to China was to deliver the letter.[40]

The Chinese had sent a message to the deposed Sultan (King) of Malacca concerning the fate of the Portuguese embassy, which the Chinese held prisoner. When they received his reply, the Chinese officials then proceeded to executed the Portuguese embassy, slicing their bodies into multiple pieces. Their genitalia were inserted into the oral cavity. The Portuguese were executed in public in multiple areas in Guangzhou, deliberately by the Chinese in order to show that the Portuguese were insignificant in the eyes of the Chinese.[41] When more Portuguese ships landed and were seized by the Chinese, the Chinese then executed them as well, cutting off the genitalia and beheading the bodies and forcing their fellow Portuguese to wear the body parts, while the Chinese celebrated with music. The genitalia and heads were displayed strung up for display in public, after which they were discarded.[42]

In response to Portuguese piracy and establishing bases in Fujian at Wuyu island and Yue harbor at Zhangzhou, Shuangyu island in Wenzhou, and Nan'ao island in Guangdong, the Imperial Chinese Right Deputy Commander Zhu Wang exterminated all the pirates and razedthe Shuangyu Portuguese base, using force to prohibit trading with foreigners by sea.[43]

Though bred to be a successful ruler, Zhengde thoroughly neglected his duties, beginning a dangerous trend that would plague future Ming emperors. The abandonment of official duties to pursue personal gratification would slowly lead to the rise of powerful eunuchs that would dominate and eventually ruin the Ming dynasty.

However, more modern historians have come to view his reign in a new light and debate that his actions along with that of his successors such as Wanli were a direct reaction to the bureaucratic gridlock that affected the Ming in its later half. The emperors were very limited in their policy decision and could not really implement any sort of lasting effective reforms despite the obvious need, while they were faced with constant pressure and were expected to be responsible for all the troubles the dynasty faced. As a result, the ministers became increasingly frustrated and disillusioned about their posts, and protested in different forms of what is essentially an imperial strike. Thus emperors like Zhengde sneaked out of the palace while emperors like Jiajing and Wanli simply didn't show up at court.

^Nigel Cameron (1976). Barbarians and mandarins: thirteen centuries of Western travelers in China. Volume 681 of A phoenix book. University of Chicago Press. p. 143. ISBN0-226-09229-1. envoy, had most effectively poured out his tale of woe, of deprivation at the hands of the Portuguese in Malacca; and he had backed up the tale with others concerning the reprehensible Portuguese methods in the Moluccas, making the case (quite truthfully) that European trading visits were no more than the prelude to annexation of territory. With the tiny sea power at this time available to the Chinese

^Ahmad Ibrahim, Sharon Siddique, Yasmin Hussain, ed. (1985). Readings on Islam in Southeast Asia. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. p. 11. ISBN9971-988-08-9. in China was far from friendly; this, it seems, had something to do with the complaint which the ruler of Malacca, conquered by the Portuguese in 1511, had lodged with the Chinese emperor, his suzerain.

^Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde (Netherlands) (1968). Bijdragen tot de taal-, land- en volkenkunde, Part 124. M. Nijhoff. p. 446. The reception in China was far from friendly; this, it seems, had something to do with the complaint which the ruler of Malacca, conquered by the Portuguese in 1511, had lodged with the Chinese emperor, his suzerain.

^Bijdragen tot de taal-, land- en volkenkunde, Volume 124. 1968. p. 446. The reception in China was far from friendly; this, it seems, had something to do with the complaint which the ruler of Malacca, conquered by the Portuguese in 1511, had lodged with the Chinese emperor, his suzerain.

^Alijah Gordon, Malaysian Sociological Research Institute (2001). The propagation of Islam in the Indonesian-Malay archipelago. Malaysian Sociological Research Institute,. p. 136. ISBN983-99866-2-7. His reception in China was far from friendly; this, it seems, had something to do with the complaint which the ruler of Melaka, conquered by the Portuguese in 1511, had lodged with the Chinese emperor, his suzerain.

^Ernest S. Dodge (1976). Islands and Empires: Western Impact on the Pacific and East Asia. Volume 7 of Europe and the World in Age of Expansion. U of Minnesota Press. p. 226. ISBN0-8166-0853-9. The inexusable behavior of the Portuguese, combined with the ill-chosen language of the letters which Pires presented to the celestial emperor, supplemented by a warning from the Malay sultan of Bintan, persuaded the Chinese that Pires was indeed up to no good

^Kenneth Scott Latourette (1964). The Chinese, their history and culture, Volumes 1-2 (4, reprint ed.). Macmillan. p. 235. Retrieved 18 July 2011. The Moslem ruler of Malacca, whom they had dispossessed, complained of them to the Chinese authorities. A Portuguese envoy, Pires, who reached Peking in 1520 was treated as a spy, was conveyed by imperial order to Canton(the University of Michigan)

^Kenneth Scott Latourette (1942). The Chinese, their history and culture, Volumes 1-2 (2 ed.). Macmillan. p. 313. The Moslem ruler of Malacca, whom they had dispossessed, complained of them to the Chinese authorities. A Portuguese envoy, Pires, who reached Peking in 1520 was treated as a spy, was conveyed by imperial order to Canton

^John William Parry (1969). Spices: The story of spices. The spices described. Volume 1 of Spices. Chemical Pub. Co. p. 102. Fernao Pires de Andrade reached Peking, China, in 1520, but unfortunately for that Portuguese envoy, he was treated as a spy and died in a Cantonese prison. establishing a

^Tomé Pires, Armando Cortesão, Francisco Rodrigues (1990). Armando Cortesão, ed. The Suma oriental of Tome Pires: an account of the East, from the Red Sea to China, written in Malacca and India in 1512-1515 ; and, The book of Francisco Rodrigues : Pilot-Major of the armada that discovered Banda and the Moluccas : rutter of a voyage in the red sea, nautical rules, almanack ... Volume 1 of The Suma Oriental of Tome Pires: An Account of the East, from the Red Sea to Japan, Written in Malacca and India in 1512-1515, and The Book of Francisco Rodrigues, Rutter of a Voyage in the Red Sea, Nautical Rules, Almanack and Maps, Written and Drawn in the East Before 1515 (illustrated, reprint ed.). Asian Educational Services. p. xl. ISBN81-206-0535-7. Retrieved 14 December 2011. In the meantime, after the departure of Simão de Andrade, the ship Madalena, which belonged to D. Nuno Manuel, coming from Lisbon under the command of Diogo Calvo, arrived at Tamão with some other vessels from Malacca, among them the junk of Jorge Álvares, which the year before could not sail with Simão de Andrade's fleet, because she had sprung a leak. .., the Chinese seized Vasco Calvo, a brother of Diogo Calvo, and other Portuguese who were in Canton trading ashore. On 27 June 1521 Duarte Coelho arrived with two junks at Tamão. Besides capturing some of the Portuguese vessels, the Chinese blockaded Diogo Calvo's ship and four other Portuguese vessels in Tamão with a large fleet of armed junks. A few weeks later Ambrósio do Rego arrived with two other ships. As many of the Portuguese crews had been killed in the fighting, slaughtered afterwards or taken prisoners, by this time there was not enough Portuguese for all the vessels, and thus Calvo, Coelho, and Rego resolved to abandon the junks in order the batteter to man the three ships. They set sail on 7 September and were attacked by the Chinese fleet, managing however to escape, thanks to a providential gale which scattered the enemy junks, and arrived at Malacca in October 1521. Vieira mentions other junks which arrived in China with Portuguese aboard; all were attacked, and the entire crews were killed fighting or were taken prisoners and slaughtered later.

^Tomé Pires, Armando Cortesão, Francisco Rodrigues (1990). Armando Cortesão, ed. The Suma oriental of Tome Pires: an account of the East, from the Red Sea to China, written in Malacca and India in 1512-1515 ; and, The book of Francisco Rodrigues : Pilot-Major of the armada that discovered Banda and the Moluccas : rutter of a voyage in the red sea, nautical rules, almanack ... Volume 1 of The Suma Oriental of Tome Pires: An Account of the East, from the Red Sea to Japan, Written in Malacca and India in 1512-1515, and The Book of Francisco Rodrigues, Rutter of a Voyage in the Red Sea, Nautical Rules, Almanack and Maps, Written and Drawn in the East Before 1515 (illustrated, reprint ed.). Asian Educational Services. p. xli. ISBN81-206-0535-7. But many others died in prison, some of hunger, many strangled, 'after carrying boards stating that they should die as sea-robbers', one struck on the head with a mallet, and others beaten to death. Pires and his companionis arrived at Canton a fortnight after the three Portuguese ships had escaped from Tamão, and they found themselves in a most difficult position... "Tomé Pires replifed that he had not come for that purpose, nor was it meet for him to discuss such a matter; that it would be evident from the letter he had brought that he had no knowledge of anthing else. . . . With these questions he kept us on our knees for four hourse; and when he had tired himself out, he sent each one back to the prison in which he was kept. On 14 August 1522 the Pochanci put fetters on the hands of Tomé Pires, and on those of the company he put fetters, and irons on their feet, url=http://books.google.com/books?id=h82D-Y0E3TwC&pg=PR40&dq=malacca+chinese+seized+portuguese+embassy&hl=en&ei=RSr1TdHSLO2o0AH9-OjrDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=pires%20companions%20fortnight%20three%20position&f=false|accessdate= requires |url= (help)

^Tomé Pires, Armando Cortesão, Francisco Rodrigues (1990). Armando Cortesão, ed. The Suma oriental of Tome Pires: an account of the East, from the Red Sea to China, written in Malacca and India in 1512-1515 ; and, The book of Francisco Rodrigues : Pilot-Major of the armada that discovered Banda and the Moluccas : rutter of a voyage in the red sea, nautical rules, almanack ... Volume 1 of The Suma Oriental of Tome Pires: An Account of the East, from the Red Sea to Japan, Written in Malacca and India in 1512-1515, and The Book of Francisco Rodrigues, Rutter of a Voyage in the Red Sea, Nautical Rules, Almanack and Maps, Written and Drawn in the East Before 1515 (illustrated, reprint ed.). Asian Educational Services. p. xlii. ISBN81-206-0535-7. clerks who were present wrote down ten and stole three hundred . . . The goods that they took from us were twenty quintals of rhubarb, one thousand five hundred or six hundred rich pieces of silk, a matter of four thousand silk handkerchiefs which the Chinese call sheu-pa (xopas) of Nanking, and many fans, and also three arrobas of musk in powerder, one thousand three hundred pods of musk, four thousand odd taels of silver and seventy or eighty taels of gold and other pices of silver, and all the cloths, url=http://books.google.com/books?id=h82D-Y0E3TwC&pg=PR40&dq=malacca+chinese+seized+portuguese+embassy&hl=en&ei=RSr1TdHSLO2o0AH9-OjrDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=rhubarb%20one%20thousand%20five%20hundred&f=false|accessdate= requires |url= (help)

^Tomé Pires, Armando Cortesão, Francisco Rodrigues (1990). Armando Cortesão, ed. The Suma oriental of Tome Pires: an account of the East, from the Red Sea to China, written in Malacca and India in 1512-1515 ; and, The book of Francisco Rodrigues : Pilot-Major of the armada that discovered Banda and the Moluccas : rutter of a voyage in the red sea, nautical rules, almanack ... Volume 1 of The Suma Oriental of Tome Pires: An Account of the East, from the Red Sea to Japan, Written in Malacca and India in 1512-1515, and The Book of Francisco Rodrigues, Rutter of a Voyage in the Red Sea, Nautical Rules, Almanack and Maps, Written and Drawn in the East Before 1515 (illustrated, reprint ed.). Asian Educational Services. p. xliv. ISBN81-206-0535-7. Retrieved 14 December 2011. A message came to the king of Bintang from his ambassador [in Canton], and the man who brought it soon returned. The report which the king of Bintang was spreading in the country is that the Chinese intended to come against Malacca. This is not very certain, though there are things that may happen The man who brought a message to the king of Bintang 'soon returned', says Jorge de Albuquerque. Vieira tells us that the junk 'returned with a message from the king of Malacca, and reached Canton on the 5th September' (fol.110V.). . . 'On the day of St. Nicholas [6 Dec.] in the year 1522 they put boards on them [the Portuguese prisoners] with the sentence that they should die and be exposed in pillories as robbers. The sentences said: "Petty sea robbers sent by the great tobber falsely; they come to spy out our country; let them die in pillories as robbers." a report was sent to the king according to the information of the mandarins, and the king confirmed the sentence. On 23 Sept. 1523 these twenty-three persons were each one cut in pieces, to wit, heads, legs, arms, and their private members placed in their mouths, the trunk of the body being divided into two pices around the belly. In the streets of Canton,

^Qingxin Li (2006). Maritime silk road. 五洲传播出版社. p. 117. ISBN7-5085-0932-3. Retrieved 21 November 2011. From there they retreated to other islands off the coast of China including Nan'ao Island to the east of Guangdong, Shuangyu Island of Wenzhou in Zhejiang, Wuyu Island and Yue Harbor in Zhangzhou of Fujian, where they colluded with powerful and wealthy families, scoundrels of the sea and Japanese pirates, dealing in contraband and plundering. In 1547, the Ming court appointed Right Deputy Commander and imperial agent Zhu Wang as provincial commander in charge of Zhejiang and Fujian's naval defenses, strictly enforcing the ban on maritime trade and intercourse with foreign countries. Zhu Wan also destroyed the Portuguese fortress on Shuangyu Island and eradicated all Chinese and Foreign buccaneers

^NYtimes. "NYtimes." The Kingdom and the Beauty (1959). Retrieved on 2008-04-30.